This invention relates to the structure of a modular water spraying device for ice making systems and more particularly to an improvement in such structure whereby the spray water guide member or members adapted to supply uniform ice making water to the ice making surfaces of the freezing plate can be accurately and easily mounted to or dismounted from the freezing plate.
Typical of water spraying devices heretofore employed for ice making systems are those shown in FIGS. 1 through 4.
In the structure shown in FIG. 1, the numeral 1 designates a vertically disposed freezing plate associated with an evaporator 2 of the refrigeration system. Affixed to the mounting flange 1a of the freezing plate 1 by set screws 1c is an L-shaped mounting plate 1b provided with a spraying device main body 3 having numerous spray apertures 3a.
Below the freezing plate 1 are placed a deflection guide plate 1d and a reservoir 1e for ice making water. The water in the reservoir 1e is introduced into the main body 3 through a circulation pump 1f. The water thus supplied into the main body 3 is sprayed via the spray apertures 3a onto each ice making surface section 1g of the freezing plate 1 to descend along said surface section 1g to form an ice product 1h thereon after the lapse of a predetermined time interval.
FIGS. 2 through 4 illustrate a device described in our copending application, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,601,178.
In these figures, the numeral 1 denotes a freezing plate having on its one side the evaporator 2 of the freezing system and on its other side a plurality of vertically extending spaced apart guide ribs 4. On the top of the freezing plate 1 the main body 3 of the spraying device having numerous spaced spray apertures 3a is mounted.
The outer sides of the main body 3 are formed with generally L-shaped, longitudinally extending mounting portions 3b by which spray water guide members 5 are detachably held.
Between the foremost part of the main portion 5a of the guide member 5 and the ice making surface 1g of the freezing plate 1, there is defined a gap "d" for uniformly guiding the ice making water. The spray water guide members 5 are disposed between the adjoining ones of guide ribs 4, as shown in FIG. 2. The main body 3 of the spraying device is releasably clamped to the freezing plate 1 by a pair of retaining projections 3c and the upright portions 5b of the water spray guide members 5.
The above described prior-art structure is very inconvenient in many ways. That is, in the structure shown in FIG. 1, since the spray apertures 3a of the main body 3 and the freezing plate 1 are excessively spaced apart from one another, the ice making water is scattered to a notably varied degree as a function of the jet direction of the ice making water relative to the freezing plate 1 and the discharge pressure of the circulation pump 1f, thus giving rise to water turbulence along the freezing plate 1 and obstructing the growth of a uniform ice layer. Thus, for stable ice making, it is necessary to make fine adjustment of the mounting position of the main body 3 and/or the size of the spray apertures, an operation which is troublesome in the mass production of ice products. In addition, since the position of the L-shaped mounting plate 1b integral with the main body 3 with respect to the main portion 1a of the freezing plate 1 is solely determined by set screws 1c, it has not been possible to obtain a highly accurate mounting position of the mounting plate 1b.
Furthermore, in the structure shown in FIGS. 2 to 4, since the direction of removal of the main body 3 for washing or maintenance is limited to a direction vertical to the freezing plate 1, it has been structurally impossible to dismount the water sprayer 3 transversely when the need has arisen placing an important limitation on the design of the ice product making system. Also, the respective water spray guide members 5 must be squeezed into the L-shaped mounting portion 3b of the main body 3, increasing the number of mounting steps which increases manufacturing costs. Moreover when the main body 3 fitted with the spray water guide members 5 is mounted to the upper edge of the freezing plate 1, the spray water guide members 5 must be clamped or sandwitched between adjoining gide ribs 4 on both sides of the evaporator 2, requiring positional adjustment of the water spray guide members 5 which entails prolonged mounting time.